Fixtures: Sunday, September 15: IFL v Seán McDermotts (Home) at 12.30pm; U-13 FC Division Five Final v Donaghmoyne in Drumhowan at 2pm; U-15 FC Division Four S-F v Patrick Sarsfields in Threemilehouse at 11am

 

Monaghan Harps Lotto: Numbers 8, 9, 20 and 22. Jackpot of €3,400 not won. Residual prizes: €100 Declan McGee c/o Ann Treanor; €40 Aoife Quinn c/o Dermot Coyle; €40 Jim Dalton c/o himself; €40 Éamonn Keelaghan c/o Noel Hennessy. Jackpot for Sunday, September 15 is €3,500 and Ann and Kevin Treanor are on duty. Lotto draw takes place in our clubhouse every Sunday night. All welcome. Thanks to everyone for their support for our Lotto, which has now played a critical role in our club’s funding for 25 years.

 

Mick Farrell Tournament: Our annual Mick Farrell Tournament took place in fine conditions last Saturday at Gavan Duffy Park. Two teams of our own U-11s competed, along with 14 other clubs. We welcomed fellow Monaghan sides Aghabog, Carrickmacross, Clontibret, Donaghmoyne, Emyvale, Killeevan, Scotstown and Truagh on the day, as well as Cavan Gaels, Cootehill and Mullahoran from Co Cavan; Clogher (Tyrone); Naomh Brid (Donegal); and Armagh Harps. Our own teams lost out at the quarter-final stages, with our Harps ‘Óg’ side losing out to Truagh in the Shield and our U-11s qualifying for the Cup, where they were edged out by Carrickmacross after a thriller that went to extra-time and ended up being decided by a ‘sudden death’ point for Carrick. Well done to all our lads, who performed well on the day. We ended up with four local sides in the finals, with Scotstown and Clontibret battling it out for the Mick Farrell Cup and neighbours Emyvale and Truagh contesting the Shield decider. Hard-earned wins for Scotstown and Emyvale saw them claim the silverware. Well done to everyone who made the fourth year of our Mick Farrell Tournament a great success. Thanks to all our referees, officials and helpers on the day, all the teams and mentors who travelled, everyone involved in organising the tournament and to Dónal Sherry for having the grounds in fine condition. The running of this tournament in memory of Mick Farrell is a fitting tribute to one of our club’s great servants and we were delighted to have many members of the Farrell family present on the day.

 

Seniors: We stayed in the McElvaney’s Waste & Recycling Intermediate Football Championship with a hard-earned win over Killanny in Castleblayney last Saturday. Killanny hit the first two points, but Conor Galligan, Oisín Fagan, Neil McAdam, Liam Hahessy and Éimhín Morahan were all on target as we rallied to lead by 0-5 to 0-2 at half-time. Neil and Éimhín moved us five clear after the restart, but Killanny gradually ate into our lead between then and the end of the 60 minutes to draw level at 0-7 apiece and force extra-time. Our lads regained the initiative, however, with points from Liam, Shane Smyth and subs Dónal Hahessy, Lochlainn Power and Conor Duffy securing a 0-13 to 0-9 win that sets up a Round 3B clash with Corduff, provisionally set for Saturday week (September 21).

Team and scorers: Gary White; Thomas Croarkin, Nicholas Scott, Brendan Óg Ó Dufaigh; Kevin Loughran, Conor Galligan (0-1), Oisín Fagan (0-1); Stephen Driver, Aodhán Óg McAnespie (Capt.); Shane McMahon, Neil McAdam (0-2, 1f), Dean Fanning; Liam Hahessy (0-3f), Shane Smyth (0-1), Éimhín Morahan (0-2, 1f).

Subs: Dónal Hahessy (0-1) for Fagan (42 mins), Lochlainn Power (0-1) for Morahan (50), Conor McCrystal for McMahon (56).

Extra-time sub: Conor Duffy (0-1) for Ó Dufaigh (inj., 12).

We return to the Monaghan Electrical IFL with a home game against Seán McDermotts this Sunday at 12.30pm. All support welcome.

 

Minors: We had a high-scoring win at home to Inniskeen in the U-17 Football Championship last Tuesday (September 3). Nathan Lavery, James McKenny, Shay Cooney, Eoghan McGinnity, Jake Power, Terence McDonald, Dylan Ballantine, Adam McGarry and Dylan McClave were among our scorers in a comfortable win. That set up a Division One quarter-final away to Donaghmoyne on Tuesday (September 10).

Team and scorers: Daragh Croarkin; Cathal Nally, Nathan Lavery (1-0), James Curley; Mark McManus, James McKenny (Capt., 1-0), Kevin Moran; Tiarnán O’Rourke, Liam Conway; Shay Cooney (0-3, 2f), Eoghan McGinnity (0-3, 1f), Jake Power (1-2); Terence McDonald (2-2), Dylan Ballantine (1-2), Adam McGarry (2-0).

Subs used: Gary Devlin, Jason Allister, Shea Swift, Dylan McClave (0-1), Luke McManus, Michael McMorrow.

 

U-15: Our U-15 Division Four team had a good win at home to Scotstown in last Friday’s championship quarter-final. The first half was closely contested, but the Harps dominated the second half to set up a semi-final against Patrick Sarsfields in Threemilehouse this Sunday at 11am.

 

U-13: Our U-13 Division One team exited the championship with a semi-final defeat against Clontibret in Emyvale last Saturday. Early scores by Daniel Alexis, Orrin Doherty, Jack Kierans and John McCrystal got our lads off to a flying start, but Clontibret rallied to close within a point by half-time at 2-4 to 1-6. Clontibret carried that momentum into the second half and although scores by Daniel, John and Jack Lynch kept our lads in touch, we fell short on a scoreline of 3-14 to 3-9, ending hopes of completing a league and championship double. Hard luck to all involved.

Panel: James Gunn; Mark Lynch, Fergal Magee; Orrin Doherty (0-2, 1f), Ethan McCaffrey, Kyle Cooney; Jack Lynch (1-0), Daniel Alexis (1-2, 0-1f); Dara Mullin, Eoin Sheridan, Shea Corrigan; Jack Kierans (0-1), John McCrystal (1-4, 0-3f).

Subs used: Rhys McCaffrey, Julian Coyle.

Sunday was the turn of the Division Five team in their semi-final against Scotstown in Cremartin. A strong start put our lads in the driving seat and although Scotstown rallied, the Harps finished well to secure the win by 7-8 to 4-8. The Division Five Championship Final against Donaghmoyne is due to be played in Drumhowan this Sunday at 2pm. All support welcome.

 

Clubhouse: The Monaghan Harps clubhouse is available to book for functions. Please contact Paudge Connolly on 085 8589135 or Rose Donnelly on 086 0825782 for more information. Anyone looking to book the clubhouse for meetings, functions, etc. is asked to please give a week’s notice for convenience.

 

Notes: Anyone who has news for inclusion in the club notes can send an email to pro.monaghanharps.monaghan@gaa.ie by Tuesday morning.